The Journey to Casa Madera, Chapter 2

[caption id="attachment_34" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Alfonso's Handiwork"][/caption]

We are into the second week of the kitchen reconstruction and Alfonso is still pounding.  8 days he and a helper have been pounding, chipping, sledgehammering concrete and brick.  The dust is everywhere, Zorro our cat spends the daytime in parts unknown

[caption id="attachment_54" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Leave my plant toy alone!"][/caption]

and Alexa our dog just tries to hide under everything.  We would like to hide too but there is more work to be done that we can do while Alfonso just keeps pounding away.  From 9:00 AM to 8 PM he is pounding....very reminiscient of the waves pounding on the rocks by the Oregon and California border......

[caption id="attachment_35" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Not the place to kayak but man is it beautiful"][/caption]

On November 4, 2008 we were on the road heading for Crescent City, California.  It had been raining it seemed since we left Tsawwassen, British Columbia on October 31st, it hadn't of course as we did see a little sun here and there in Seattle but for the most part it was either drizzle or pouring.  Today was no different.  Raining when we left Newport, Oregon but by the time we got to Bandon, Oregon the sun had come out and the weather started to warm where we actually took off a sweatshirt!

Stopped for lunch at a shack in Bandon which was simply called "Fish & Chips Restaurant".  Obviously that was their specialty so that was what we had.  They had one table and 5 counter seats.  The food was delightful and the place was very, very busy.  Nothing like a good feed of fried battered fish to get you heart started for the rest of the days drive!

[caption id="attachment_36" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Great food from such a small little shack!"][/caption]

Arrived in Crescent City late afternoon and spent the night at the Lighthouse Inn.  A quaint little motor inn that had already set up their Christmas display in the lobby.  Apparently the businesses in town use their lobby for pictures with Santa.

[caption id="attachment_37" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Halloween was just 4 days before!"][/caption]

Hit the road on the 5th at 8:00 am and in my best Gomer Pyle imitation, surprise, surprise, surprise...it was pouring.

We were heading down the Del Norte Coast looking forward to seeing the Redwood Forest, hoping the weather would lighten up so we could actually see a tree when we got there!  We arrived in Eureka, California and were shrouded in rain, wind and cold.  We didn't see anything there that necessitated us getting out of the truck for in that weather so we continued on.  (I am sure there are many things to see in Eureka but the weather was awful so we kept going).

There had been a Ranger Station near Big Tree, California that we stopped at for a highlight map of the North Coast and in it we found a reference to Ferndale, California that made it sound interesting so we decided we would go there and see what we could find for lunch.  The town is spectacular.  They have done the town in a Victorian style and the buildings are gorgeous.

[caption id="attachment_39" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Eagle House Inn in Ferndale"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_40" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Victoria Inn, Ferndale. Next time we may stay here. "][/caption]

It was about 10 miles off the main highway but it was worth the drive.  Not to mention it actually stopped raining while we were there!  I would highly recommend stopping and having a look if you are in the area.  Saw our first palm tree in Ferndale....ahhhhh.

[caption id="attachment_38" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Note the wet windshield and how dark it is at !0:38 am"][/caption]

Heading south on the 101, also known as the Redwood Highway looking for Humboldt State Park and the Avenue of the Giants.  Great scenic area and again worth the visit.  The trees are phenomenal.  We did stop at the standard tourist trap, The Drive Thru Tree,

[caption id="attachment_41" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Well we paid our 5 bucks, we had to drive through the tree!"][/caption]

near Standish-Hickory State Park.  There we saw a sign to say how far we had come and how we yet had to travel!

[caption id="attachment_43" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Apparently someone decided they did not want to know how far Canada was"][/caption]

Oh and look, it's pouring again.  Well, at least it is not snow.

[caption id="attachment_44" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Pretty big tree"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_45" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Not everyday you get to take a picture of a blue ox!"][/caption]

At 4:38 pm we were out of the Redwoods and heading for Ukiah, California to spend the night.  It was then we spotted our first vineyard.  Now we're talking!

[caption id="attachment_46" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Clouds rising out of the first vineyard."][/caption]

November 6th, the United States had just elected their first Afro-American President and we were going to tour vineyards while heading to Sonoma!  It was a truly spectacular day, now if it would only quit raining.

For the first 30 minutes on the road we were driving in clouds and drizzle but we crossed the Sonoma County Line and the clouds parted, the sky was blue and the sun was shining brightly.

The first city we came across was Windsor, California.  It was a beautiful town and suburb of Santa Rosa.  We went looking for a map store as we needed a Mexico map for our GPS.  We found the map store but no gps maps.  We bought a paper one in case we were unable to find a software plug-in.  This town was nice, they had Peanuts characters all over town as this was where Charles Schulz lived a good part of his life.

[caption id="attachment_47" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="One just has to take a picture of Snoopy!"][/caption]

It was also time to change the oil in the car.  So off we went to the local Chevron oil center.

Oil freshly changed we were back on the road and heading for Benziger Vineyards.  We managed to make it there in time for their 1:30 tour and off we went.  A beautiful spot, they had worked hard to be a bio-dynamic vineyard to maintain their vines without chemicals.

[caption id="attachment_48" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Benziger Vineyards"][/caption]

It was worth what we paid to take the tour.  Oh that's right it was free.  The wines were nice but not within our budget so we moved on looking for another.

[caption id="attachment_50" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="So many choices!"][/caption]

We ended up in the Eric Ross Wineries Tasting Room and a lovely time talking to the manager and trying a few wines.  We were there for at least an hour and bought a few bottles to enjoy on our trip.

[caption id="attachment_51" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="We picked this one! It was a great choice!"][/caption]

From there we ended up in Sonoma at the Best Western for the night.  The center of town is very nice with a lovely square and lots of restaurants.  The man from Eric Ross had told us about a great Italian place that was near the hotel and we did our best to find it but if it was there it was invisible.  So instead we bought a pizza and enjoyed it in our room with an excellent newly purchased red.  We would have liked to see more wineries but the wharf in San Francisco was calling!

[caption id="attachment_52" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Golden Gate"][/caption]